The Strangest Tribe
In case you hadn't heard, tis the season of the 20th anniversary of grunge. Cameron Crowe directed the Pearl Jam Twenty movie, and Nirvana's Nevermind was celebrated with with a fancy re-issue and a couple of tribute albums. In the publishing world, there's been lots flannel-flying activity, too. Author Mark Yarm - not to be confused with Mark Arm, of Mudhoney - pulled together the voluminous Everybody Loves Our Town: The Oral History of Grunge. And that's not all, folks. For those interested on digging deeper into the Pacific Northwest caffeine-and-drizzle ethos that produced all that sludgey punk-rock, look no further than The Strangest Tribe: How A Group Of Seattle Rock Bands Invented Grunge, written by Cheltenham's own Stephen Tow.
In case you hadn't heard, 'tis the season of the 20th anniversary of grunge. Cameron Crowe directed the Pearl Jam Twenty movie, and Nirvana's Nevermind was celebrated with with a fancy re-issue and a couple of tribute albums.
In the publishing world, there's been lots flannel-flying activity, too. Author Mark Yarm - not to be confused with Mark Arm, of Mudhoney - pulled together the voluminous Everybody Loves Our Town: The Oral History of Grunge. And that's not all, folks. For those interested on digging deeper into the Pacific Northwest caffeine-and-drizzle ethos that produced all that sludgy punk-rock, look no further than The Strangest Tribe: How A Group Of Seattle Rock Bands Invented Grunge, written by Cheltenham's own Stephen Tow.
A history professor at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Tow delves deeply into the 1980s Seattle scene that culminated with the breakout of Nirvana and Pearl Jam (that's them pictured, as hirsute youngsters) in 1991. Buy it here. Scott McCaughey - he of the Thee Minus Five and seminal Seattle rockers Young Fresh Fellows - was on the scene at the time and says: "You'll find out how a bunch of punk rock geeks somehow turned sleepy Seattle and its basement-beer-bred music scene into a worldwide phenomenon. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll eventually fall over, as we all did at the time."
Tow's got a bunch of local appearances in the next month: Oct. 25th at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore, Nov. 2 at Chester County Book & Music Company and Nov. 3 at Doylestown Bookshop. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is below. Oh, and here's Inquirer social media editor Sam Wood's review of Nirvana at J.C. Dobbs on South Street from 1991.
Previously: Bjork's Biophilia Follow In The Mix on Twitter here
